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One simple observation I made last weekend was about fishing large dries in calm water. Because the water is calm the fish will see a large fly from a long way off. A good approach for a cruising trout or one on station is not to cast the fly near the fish. Instead cast the fly well to the side of the fish and try to induce him off his lie or beat. The plop from a big fly is often enough to trigger this. Advantage being the fish is travelling toward your rod tip and therefore the tippet will be on the trout’s blind side of the dryfly. This massively increases the chances of a confident take and a solid hook up.

It was great to fish with Fraser again.. He was unlucky to break in a very big fish at the end of the day. The fish took his dry (as described above) and took off off like a freight train, as he did the line jumped from the ground, around Fraser’s forceps and everything locked up. Simply impossible to put the brakes on a fish like that on his first run. Next time Fraser!

I have no idea what’s on the cards for this weekend… I think I might go a little nuts. It’s in the post.

Ronan..

ps. Good to meet Scott Loudon and Ben! Thanks for the stout…

Also, only 17 subscribers to go until I hit 100 and the prize draw! Get in quick!!

The lake is really important to me here in Cromwell.. I regularly fish it a day during the weekend and about 3 evenings a week. It is one of NZ’s best lakes and very few use it for fly-fishing. Suits me!

One can experiment with any amount of methods and techniques.. This one took a dry.

Kevin came to join me for an hour one evening..

This is rare! I broke in a fish and hooked him again on an identical fly 5 minutes later. Got my fly back!!

The lake is dropping fast.. I have to fish the flats on foot now. Those are my prop marks!

I pulled up on this sand flat last Sat. Nothing on the flat itself but plenty on the drop-off..

A nice bar of silver from some contrasting water..

Trout love contrast!

Wet wading a sand flat on a warm, sunny day is magic..

Fraser and I, while en route to the river, encountered this!!!

The sign was true.. I got bitten…. twice!

Away they go.. The rider told us that he never pulls his head in!

No better man to build you a house! Fraser Mackenzie, David Reid Homes..

Polarisation is so cool!

Big pools like this can be difficult to approach. Fraser and I took turns climbing the bluffs to spot for each other. It proved essential because the fish were cruising around the pools at incredibly high speed and were tough to spot from river level..

A very solid 4.5lber took a cicada..

Back he goes.. A great photo from Fraser.

A better fish. On the dry again from about 25m. Lots of water resistance on the line but the strike stuck!